


Having a Lazy Day

by BeccaBear93



Series: Prompt Fills [5]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Aerith Gainsborough Lives, Angst, F/M, Ficlet, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, Prompt Fill, implied PTSD, implied depression, vent fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-14 04:00:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29412306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeccaBear93/pseuds/BeccaBear93
Summary: Healing isn't always easy, but Aerith and Cloud make their way back, day by day.
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Cloud Strife
Series: Prompt Fills [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2152002
Comments: 8
Kudos: 21





	Having a Lazy Day

“This is… okay, right?”

Cloud pauses in his absent combing through Aerith’s hair to peer down at her. “Hm?”

“I just mean…” She frowns, gesturing between them. “ _This?_ Us just… sitting here? Doing nothing?” Aerith sighs. “It just… feels like we’ve been fighting and running for so long that it… doesn’t feel _right_ to rest.”

Cloud nods, though he wishes he didn’t know what she means quite so well. The itch under his skin on quiet days like this, the creeping sense of _wrongness_ or the nightmares that so often have them both rising before the sun. Sephiroth may be gone, but the impact he had on their lives is still ever-present. “Let’s do something, then.” Aerith nods and slowly sits up, but she looks so goddamn _tired_. Not sleepy, just… exhausted to her core. She looks the way he feels, most days. So he adds, “Not… anything big. Just… moving.”

She nods again, and they both sit in silence for several minutes as they think. “I… want to garden,” she says hesitantly, like it’s what she thinks she _should_ want rather than what she actually _does_.

Cloud just stands and offers a hand to help her up, though, and neither of them lets go as they gather her supplies and make their way out to the garden. (Aerith had a habit of flirting and hanging off of him the first time around. The second time, she clung to him like she was afraid to let go. These days, he clings back just as tight.)

Aerith drops to her knees at the edge of the garden. It isn’t nearly as huge and impressive as the one surrounding her house in Midgar, but it grows slowly and steadily and she tends carefully to each and every plant even when she can’t seem to care for herself. Cloud kneels down next to her, handing over the trowel, and Aerith holds it limply in her lap, staring blankly at the flowers. After several minutes, a sob escapes and she turns away from him, ducking her face into her opposite shoulder to hide it. Something small shatters inside Cloud, something he’s starting to get used to taping back together, and he silently wraps his arms around her, pulling her closer until she falls against him, crying into his shirt.

(They take turns piecing each other back together, sometimes. Sometimes they crumble together. But sometimes there are good days. Days when they are each other’s guiding lights and both hold strong and steady and Aerith’s smile brightens the room like it used to. _Those_ are the days to hold on for.)

Eventually, Aerith wipes her eyes and whispers, “Sorry.” He just shakes his head and presses a kiss to her hair, and she spares him a tired half-smile as she straightens up again. It takes a few more minutes, but eventually, she gets to work. It’s only going through the motions, but Cloud joins in too, and after a while some of the tension eases out of her shoulders. A little longer and she tips her head back to feel the sun on her face, takes in a deep breath of fresh air and lets it out slow. A little longer and she starts to smile.

It is a small, hesitant thing, but it’s _something_. And they will keep finding small ways each day to regain a little of the feelings they’ve lost, the feelings they had to shut out to survive. And together, they make their way back to where they want to be, little by little, step by step.


End file.
